Protecting Sakura
by Seivom
Summary: Syaoran's job is to look out for hard headed Sakura Kinomoto, but in a teenage community where alcohol, fights, extreme parties and sex are the norm, how is he to fend off everything that's about to come crashing around her?


Hello! Thank you for clicking on my story- please read it;) I haven't written in a while, ever since I got pretty sick. Now I'm back at school and struggling to write anything which is pretty bad since I'm doing English Extension and my exams will hit at the end of the year. I'm using fan fiction to try and slide my way back into writing. Please let me know how I'm doing, the characters, writing, how interesting it is.

I'm using this chapter as a tester- if the story isn't received well then I suppose I'll try again, so please be sure to telll meee:)

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**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the CCS characters, but I DO own Sylvester!**

**Me: What do you think of my story Sylvester?**

**Sylvester: Sufferin' succotash! You're desthpicable!**

**Me: Thanks Sylvester-_-**

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_Protecting Sakura_

_Chapter 1: Dog Boy_

Syaoran rolled onto his knees and threw up.

The retching sound was almost enough to send Syaoran into a second round, he clamped his mouth shut and ran the back of his hand over his lips. Not only was he disgusted with what he'd just done behind the large hedge in the corner of a random teenager's back yard, but he was incredibly embarrassed to have done it at such a crucial moment. She had been watching.

He found the ten seconds of quiet that followed his bout of sickness fairly pleasant until he heard the back door shoved open and an assortment of voices follow.

'Syaoran' cooed a low, deep voice that could only have belonged to Arata Kinjo. Kinjo was shaking in response to the high amount of alcohol he had obviously just washed down and his words were slurred, although this was hardly unusual. Syaoran couldn't see him but he could hear the soft clanging sound of Arata attempting to drink from a beer bottle which he had already emptied half an hour ago.

Syaoran groaned in response. Arata chuckled, 'That was seriously sad, you can hold your alcohol about as well as Sharp-Tongued Kinomoto can'

This comment was followed by strained laughter, Arata had obviously brought reinforcements with him to humiliate Syaoran.

Syaoran was surprised Arata was speaking with understandable statements at all. He was already pushing it when he was sober, let alone when he had emptied 6 bottles of beer and swallowed another 6 shots of straight bourbon by himself.

Syaoran struggled to stand up and face the group behind him, the overwhelming smell of the vomit he'd just produced mixed with his embarrassment over having done that in front of everyone seemed to be forming an invisible barrier pinning Syaoran's legs to the ground and holding his head down.

'Ready for game two?' asked Arata, his question heavy with sarcasm. He knew that neither of them could possibly handle any more shots.

Taking a deep breath, Syaoran broke through the barrier and stood up. He pushed out his chest in a primal attempt at appearing confident and in control but it just came off clumsy and desperate as he stumbled back and slammed into the fence.

Arata's group burst into fits of giggles, a couple of the girls clinging to the boys beside them for support. Syaoran dropped his head and shoved right through the middle, they were all too drunk to put up much of a fight or follow after him as he stormed back into the house.

The place was nothing short of a complete and utter disaster zone. The living room, which gave off the impression of once being quite well furnished was crawling with intoxicated adolescents. They were stumbling or crawling around the house, knocking to the ground anything that wasn't tied down. Syaoran treaded carefully over a collection of smashed glass that was once a pretty vase and side-stepped around a couple who were hooking up on the floor in the middle of the room, probably because the lounge and stairs were taken.

He was looking for her.

One would assume that it would be easy, after all she was in Syaoran's opinion, the prettiest girl in the room so she should stand out but he was having difficult locating her.

'Syaoran!'

Apparently Arata had been able to find his way to the house.

Syaoran spun around and was hit by another wave of nausea. He could smell the intense body odour radiating off Arata, he smelt entirely of bourbon and beer.

'Arata, I see you were able to get your hands on a new bottle of beer. Who read the label for you?'

She had appeared.

'What are you...' Arata struggled for the word.

'Implying?' Sakura offered. Arata nodded.

'I am "implying" that you are either too stupid or too drunk to read'

Arata's face shuffled through a few expressions, first one of misunderstanding, then of strained thought, followed by slight comprehension, then complete realisation and finally anger.

'Hey-'

'There's the emotion we were waiting for!' Sakura exclaimed, patting Arata on the shoulder 'Good work champ, now go rest. We wouldn't want you to be all tuckered out for your important game tomorrow'

Arata stared furiously at Sakura, but to Syaoran's surprise he didn't reply. He obediently

turned on his heel and stalked off.

Syaoran opened his mouth ready to thank Sakura but she had walked off. He ran his fist roughly through his hair, pulling at it to mess it up. He had yet again failed to make any intelligent conversation with Sakura, he was failing miserably.

Syaoran was suddenly reminded of the first day he had walked down the halls of Seiju High School near Tokyo's Central Business District. He had been awkwardly dodging his way around the crowds of the main corridor when he'd first caught sight of her.

True, he was already looking out for Sakura Kinomoto but he had not been prepared for what he saw. Immediately all the noise and movement around him, which had been overwhelming a moment ago, disappeared into nothingness. All that mattered was her and she was magnificent.

Her features were almost angelic or doll-like. She had a fair complexion, rosy cheeks and large, bright emerald eyes. Her auburn hair hung just above her shoulders, framing her face. She looked picture perfect, sweetness just emanated off of her.

That's why it had been such a shock when she had opened her mouth and cried 'What are you looking at dog boy?!'

'D... dog boy?' was Syaoran's unintelligible response.

'I'm sorry, that was inconsiderate of me. "Woof Woof" how's that? Understand me now?'

When Syaoran didn't reply she appeared to lose interest. The dark haired girl beside her gave Syaoran a sympathetic look but tottled after her friend faithfully as she shoved past him.

'Sakura, wait!' he had called

She spun around, 'How do you know my name?'

'I uh.. heard it around'

She wasn't stupid, Syaoran could tell by the way her eyes lost focus that she didn't believe him.

'Right, well don't call me like I'm your friend'

'Oh sorry, I mean Kinomoto-san -'

'sama'

'-sama' Syaoran had copied immediately.

The girls around him giggled as Syaoran hurried to fix his error, 'I mean Kinomoto-san,' he scrambled forward, 'I'm Syaoran Li'

'So?'

'So that's my name'

'Congratulations' she had called, walking away. 'Bye dog boy!'

It was a moment that still caused Syaoran to outwardly cringe. He wasn't so good socially and he was struggling very much to make any connection with Sakura at all. His entire mission relied on him becoming close with her but he could barely make her stay in his presence long enough for him to blurt out random words in her direction.

'Excuse me'

Syaoran drifted back to his current situation, a small girl with fiery red hair was looking up at him. She appeared annoyed.

'Yes?' he replied politely.

'You're blocking the closest, I'm supposed to spend seven minutes in there with Masaru Kuroki'

Syaoran frowned but jumped out of the way nonetheless. He watched as the girl grasped a tall but well-built guy around the waist and dragged him into the wardrobe after her. He shot Syaoran an amused look. Sex was just a game to the people at this party.

Syaoran decided he'd better go keep on eye on Sakura. This place seemed like the exact type of 'dangerous scenario' his captain had warned him about.

He was able to locate her quickly this time because she was sitting at the dining room table downing shots with a few boys from the group Arata had dragged with him outside earlier.

Her dark haired friend was flanking her right side and appeared about as uncomfortable as Syaoran was.

'Ready Sharp-Tongue?' the gangly boy holding the bourbon bottle asked.

'It's Kinomoto' Sakura snapped back, but she was grinning.

'Okay, three... two... one'

Sakura and the three other boys at the table tipped the contents of their shot glasses into their mouths and swallowed. The boys looked merely as they had just skulled water, but Sakura coughed and grabbed at her throat.

Syaoran rushed forward to stop the gangly boy from refilling Sakura's glass.

'She won't be having any more' he said

'Yes she will' Sakura shoved Syaoran hand's away from her glass and pushed it forward for more alcohol, 'I'm winning!' she muttered excitedly to Syaoran. He noticed that her face was red, her hair was splashed messily across her forehead and her pupils were dilated.

'You've had enough' he said

She gave him an alluring smile. She was defiantly drunk.

'I'm fine' she said

'No really-'

'I'm fine' she said again, more forcefully this time.

Syaoran watched as Sakura and the boys shot down another round, it only seemed to be getting easier for the boys. It was unlikely Sakura would win this round, she wasn't a big girl, around 5"4 was Syaoran's guess.

'Come to the bathroom' The dark haired girl whispered to Sakura, 'Please?'

Sakura sighed loudly but used the table to stand, she slipped and almost hit the ground. Syaoran grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

'Don't touch me, man' she burst out and ripped her arm from Syaoran's grip only causing herself to slip again.

'You're drunk' Syaoran said

'My dear, you are ugly, and what's more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly!' She let out a squeal of mirth.

Syaoran stared at her questioningly.

'She's a fan of Winston Churchill' said her friend.

Syaoran supposed this was an explanation but it went over his head anyway.

'Why yes, Tomoyo, I am! How did you know that?' Sakura was now relying on her friend, who Syaoran finally knew was named Tomoyo, for support. She was unable to stand.

'I'm going to take her home' Tomoyo said, 'Could you help me get her to the car?'

It took fifteen minutes of coaxing and bribery to convince Sakura, who was already legless but was still getting further intoxicated as the minutes ticked by due to the shots slowly taking effect, to get into Tomoyo's car.

Just as Tomoyo and Syaoran had got Sakura into the car seat her smile disappeared and she started crying.

'What the...?' Syaoran jumped away, slightly unnerved by the sudden change in mood.

Tomoyo just smiled, 'Sakura hates being drunk'

'Then why get drunk at all?'

'She likes to drink'

Syaoran frowned.

'Don't try to understand girls, it's pointless' Tomoyo closed the car door, tears were still running down Sakura's face. 'She hates it when her reflexes slow, everyone calls her Sharp-Tongue, you've heard that right?'

'Yeah'

'Well that's because she's sharp-tongued obviously. Sakura can't stand it when she doesn't have the words to say something. So when she drinks and her mind works slower, she gets upset and cries' Tomoyo indicated to Sakura who was now burrowing her head in her lap. 'So she always does this, don't worry'

Syaoran was speechless, he felt guilty. If Sakura couldn't stand being drunk for a couple of hours then Syaoran didn't know how she would handle what was about to happen to her.

Tomoyo smiled reassuringly, she probably thought the horror washing over Syaoran's face was due to the current Sakura crying in the car. It wasn't. It was being caused by thoughts of the Sakura in the future.

He had only seen her face-to-face a week ago, but he already knew that the last thing he would ever want is to see her suffering.

***

'Syaoran was vomiting in the bushes'

'Sharp-Tongue got so drunk'

'Aiko did it with Masaru'

Syaoran wasn't surprised this time when he reached school in the morning and found that all the gossip from the party two nights ago had already spread to the far corners of the school's fences.

He'd seen this happen twice so far, once when Yui Matsuo had gone to cheer leading practice after school with no bra on and another time when Tatsuya Yoshida and Natsuki Inoue had locked themselves in the gym storeroom only to realise they had left the key in Tatsuya's gym shorts which were hanging on the tree just outside the storeroom window.

He hardly thought that his vomit was worthy of the school's network but he accepted that it was perhaps a slow gossip weekend and it was nice that the students appeared to finally know his name.

Syaoran caught a glimpse of familiar auburn hair and rushed to catch up, 'Morning Kinomoto-san!'

She scoffed at him, 'Please breathe the other way' she sped up but Syaoran followed her.

'Seriously' she said angrily, 'I'm hung over!'

'Even after you had the weekend to recover?'

'You bring out the worst in me' she sneered at him.

'And you, the best in me' Syaoran replied, attempting to give Sakura an innocent smile.

She rolled her eyes, 'very cute'

Syaoran knew they had a shared class first period so he continued to walk beside her despite her obvious annoyance.

'If I throw a stick will you leave?' she asked him, her voice was a little less harsh this time.

Syaoran didn't reply, he just contiued to look at her. She appeared taken aback.

'You really are like a dog. I can just picture you wagging your tail right now'

They walked into the classroom, having completed their walk in awkward silence. Sakura shot towards the back seat and spread her books across the table. The message clearly said 'Syaoran not welcome here'.

He went to drop his bag on the usual front row table he sat at but quickly changed his mind and sat down at the table directly in front of Sakura. He could almost hear her silent scream of protest.

They were at least fifteen minutes early so it took about five more minutes before the classroom began to fill up. It was Syaoran's luck that the seat he'd stolen belonged to none other than superstar Arata.

'Oi! Get outta my seat!'

'It's not your seat' Syaoran said calmly

'I always sit there!'

'Well apparently not, cause you're not sitting here today'

'Do you want to get yourself bashed?'

'No one ever wants to get bashed'

'Then move'

'No'

Arata cracked his knuckles, 'You have-'

'Give it a rest Arata' Sakura said sharply, 'It's not a big deal, sit next to him if you want'

'Why would I sit-'

'Then sit elsewhere! Just get lost'

'Listen here you bitch-'

'Oh you're swearing now? I bet you feel important' Sakura glared at Arata.

He stepped forward and slammed his hand on Sakura's desk, 'Open you mouth again and I'll-' he grabbed Sakura's wrist.

'You'll what?'

Syaoran had moved so fast even he didn't know what he was doing, he pried Arata's fingers off Sakura and shoved his away.

'Threatening a girl is a pretty low-class act' Syaoran snarled.

'Sit down'

The sensei's timing was perfect. Arata, with one last glare at Sakura and Syaoan, stomped to the front of the classroom and sat down. Syaoran hurriedly took his seat and turned to look at Sakura. She didn't exactly look grateful, or even relieved but she was looking back at him with mild curiosity.

Syaoran's heart pounded heavily against his rib cage, he may have just scraped his way into Sakura's friendly graces.

***

Other than the almost fight in his first period class, Syaoran's day passed by uneventfully. He spent this lunch breaks sitting alone under his favourite tree away from the eyes of the rest of the students.

He was supposed to sit with the other third-years but he found that it was too bothersome dealing with the screaming of the girls or the jeers and cat calls of the boys. He much preferred the quiet and it was nice to take a break from having to try and be social.

When the bell to signify fifth period sounded, Syaoran picked himself and his bag off the ground. He had PE, Physical Education.

Syaoran hoped he could play today, he'd been at the school for almost two weeks but they hadn't yet given him his sports uniform so he'd been forced to sit and watch as his peers played. Back in the academy where he had grown up, Syaoran had fancied himself as the top sports player- his specialty was soccer or pretty much anything that involved footwork.

As soon as he had entered the gym Sasaki-Sensei shoved a shirt and shorts into Syaoran's arms and walked off.

Syaoran followed the rest of the boys into the change rooms.

'Playing today?'

'What do you want now, Arata?' Syaoran slipped his shirt off and shoved his head through the plain white one he'd been given.

'Hope you like humiliation' Arata said menacingly

'You've been studying?' Syaoran teased, 'Must've taken you all night to produce that word'

He laughed as Arata's face turned red.

'Seems like you've been pathetically following Sharp-Tongue around for too long' said Arata, 'You're starting to sound like her'

Syaoran pulled his shorts up and simply nodded at Arata. 'Pathetically following'. Those words had stung him, had he really been acting like a lost puppy dog? No wonder Sakura was calling him dog boy.

'Boys get out here!' the harsh voice of the gym teacher floated into the change rooms, Syaoran ran a frustrated hand through his hair before jamming his school uniform into his bag and rushing out the stand with the girls in front of Sasaki-Sensei.

'Kinjo, my left, now' He indicated for Arata to step forward, 'Li, my right'

Syaoran complied and stood next to Sasaki. He felt intimidated, Sasaki was a huge bloke. He was at least 6"3 and had arms thicker than most guy's legs. Syaoran, who was around 5"10, stared up at him. If Sasaki had told Syaoran at that moment to jump of a bridge, Syaoran wasn't sure he would want to refuse.

'Boys will play first half and girls second half, this is a school yard pick' he boomed, 'Arata can go first'

Arata chose Masaru Kuroki so Syaoran picked Tatsuya Yoshida, he had strong looking legs and Syaoran supposed he needed to if he had been able to climb out the storeroom window and up the tree to get his shorts.

The boys were sorted, Syaoran choosing at random those that looked strong or fast and Arata picking his friends. A rush of pleasure swept over Syaoran, he had been stressed for so long and he was happy to do something fun. The boys on the other team had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

As the boys took their positions around the hall for an indoor game of soccer, the girls went to sit around the outskirts of the playing area. Syaoran snuck a look at Sakura, she was sitting with four other girls including Tomoyo. He hoped Sakura would watch.

'Go Tatsuya! Smash them! Yeah! I love you baby!' Natsuki was jumping on the spot, waving frantically at a very embarrassed looking Tatsuya, 'You're sexy baby!'

Syaoran looked over at Sakura again, he wondered if she'd ever cheer for him like that.

The game began with Arata intentionally colliding with Syaoran and knocking him to the ground. This set the score for the rest of the match which became very dirty very quickly. Masaru kicked Tatsuya in the shin. Yamato from Syaoran's team retaliated by elbowing a small boy in the nose. Sasaki either didn't know the contact rules of soccer or didn't care because there were no fouls recognised.

Syaoran had never played this kind of soccer before, the game became less about getting the ball into the oppoisite team's goal and more about which team could injury the other one more.

'Dog boy!' called a tall boy named Gorou Morioka, using Sakura's insult for him. Syaoran was distracted mid-kick and the ball was swiftly taken by the other team. Cursing himself, Syaoran turned to get it back only to be tripped by Arata's foot.

Syaoran slammed hard to the ground.

Yet again, there was no whistle.

Syaoran tried to get up but he found it difficult to move. Then he felt it. The splitting pain from his head and the warm wetness that began to travel through his hair, he was surprised to find he must have hit his head harder than he thought.

The voices that followed were hazy, Syaoran had his eyes jammed shut but he could faintly hear Sakura standing close by and yelling, 'That was a disgusting move, Arata! Syaoran was running fast! Obviously he was going to fall hard!'

He felt someone wrap a towel or something around his head.

'Sorry, man' Arata was leaning over him, 'I didn't mean to really injure you'

Syaoran silently prayed that Sasaki-Sensei wasn't planning on carrying him bridal style to the sick bay. As if he needed the extra humiliation.

The whistle blew. Finally.

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**Lemme know! :D btw I apologise for spelling errors, microsoft word isn't working.. so I edited it myself.**


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